{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/mart/mart214.htm","path":"neu/mart/mart214.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart214.htm","text":"CHAPTER XXI\nHow King Mark found Sir Tristram naked, and made him\nto be borne home to Tintagil, and how he was there\nknown by a brachet.\nTHEN the knight took up the giant's head and bare it with him\nunto King Mark, and told him what adventure betid him in the\nforest, and how a naked man rescued him from the grimly giant,\nTauleas. Where had ye this adventure? said King Mark. Forsooth,\nsaid Sir Dinant, at the fair fountain in your forest where many\nadventurous knights meet, and there is the mad man. Well, said\nKing Mark, I will see that wild man. So within a day or two King\nMark commanded his knights and his hunters that they should be\nready on the morn for to hunt, and so upon the morn he went unto\nthat forest. And when the king came to that well he found there\nlying by that well a fair naked man, and a sword by him. Then\nKing Mark blew and straked, and therewith his knights came to\nhim; and then the king commanded his knights to: Take that naked\nman with fairness, and bring him to my castle. So they did\nsoftly and fair, and cast mantles upon Sir Tristram, and so led\nhim unto Tintagil; and there they bathed him, and washed him, and\ngave him hot suppings till they had brought him well to his\nremembrance; but all this while there was no creature that knew\nSir Tristram, nor what man he was.\nSo it fell upon a day that the queen, La Beale Isoud, heard of\nsuch a man, that ran naked in the forest, and <387>how the king\nhad brought him home to the court. Then La Beale Isoud called\nunto her Dame Bragwaine and said: Come on with me, for we will\ngo see this man that my lord brought from the forest the last\nday. So they passed forth, and spered where was the sick man.\nAnd then a squire told the queen that he was in the garden taking\nhis rest, and reposing him against the sun. So when the queen\nlooked upon Sir Tristram she was not remembered of him. But ever\nshe said unto Dame Bragwaine: Meseemeth I should have seen him\nheretofore in many places. But as soon as Sir Tristram saw her\nhe knew her well enough. And then he turned away his visage and\nwept.\nThen the queen had always a little brachet with her that Sir\nTristram gave her the first time that ever she came into\nCornwall, and never would that brachet depart from her but if Sir\nTristram was nigh thereas was La Beale Isoud; and this brachet\nwas sent from the king's daughter of France unto Sir Tristram for\ngreat love. And anon as this little brachet felt a savour of Sir\nTristram, she leapt upon him and licked his lears and his ears,\nand then she whined and quested, and she smelled at his feet and\nat his hands, and on all parts of his body that she might come\nto. Ah, my lady, said Dame Bragwaine unto La Beale Isoud, alas,\nalas, said she, I see it is mine own lord, Sir Tristram. And\nthereupon Isoud fell down in a swoon, and so lay a great while\nAnd when she might speak she said: My lord Sir Tristram, blessed\nbe God ye have your life, and now I am sure ye shall be\ndiscovered by this little brachet, for she will never leave you.\nAnd also I am sure as soon as my lord, King Mark, do know you he\nwill banish you out of the country of Cornwall, or else he will\ndestroy you; for God's sake, mine own lord, grant King Mark his\nwill, and then draw you unto the court of King Arthur, for there\nare ye beloved, and ever when I may I shall send unto you; and\nwhen ye list ye may come to me, and at all times early and late I\nwill be at your commandment, to live as poor a life as ever did\nqueen <388>or lady. O Madam, said Sir Tristram, go from me, for\nmickle anger and danger have I escaped for your love.","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK IX CHAPTER XXI","type":"page"}